The humble biscuit has meant different things at different times in history.
In most countries, biscuits are a confection — sweet, hard, unleavened and often enjoyed with coffee or tea. However, biscuits can also be savory and cracker-like, making an appearance in pre-dinner bread baskets.
Of course, the soft, baking powder-leavened quick bread that’s omnipresent in the southern U.S. has become its own beloved staple. Dry outside with a soft, crumbly interior, their predecessors — scones — first arrived in the States via the British Isles around the 16th century. The difference? They included sugar and eggs.
Cooks in Southern kitchens built on and reshaped that tradition, eventually crafting fluffy, light numbers that became the focal point of the ethereal breakfasts and fried chicken dinners we know, love and crave today.
With all this biscuit talk, you may find yourself in need of a quick fix. Sure, you could head to James Beard Award–winning chef Robert Stehling’s Hominy Grill in Charleston, Loveless Café in Nashville or Portland’s Pine Street Biscuits. What you may not have known is Hardee’s has a long, proud tradition of making biscuits with an equal dose of love — and expertise — right in your backyard.
Since Wilber Hardee opened his first restaurant in Greenville, NC, in 1960, Hardee’s has grown to more than 1,800 locations across the U.S., serving guests with innovative-yet-familiar flavors, from Made From Scratch™ Biscuits and Hand-Breaded chicken tenders to hand-scooped milkshakes.
The first Hardee’s one-of-a-kind menu featured 15-cent hamburgers, 10-cent fries and 20-cent milkshakes. As the number of outposts grew, the brand introduced one of its most popular menu items, Hardee’s Made From Scratch Biscuits. To this day, they continue to be a guest favorite, be it the hand-breaded chicken biscuit, the sausage and egg biscuit or biscuits ‘n’ gravy. As for the beloved cinnamon raisin biscuit, it’s routinely petitioned for a comeback by fans and on social media.
Naturally, Hardee’s biscuits are more than a vessel for other ingredients. Their history and tradition run deep.
Every morning, the brand’s trained biscuit makers come in before anyone else to make them by hand with real buttermilk at each Hardee’s location. Rolled, cut by hand and baked every 15 minutes for warm, crumbly freshness, every single one is made with the utmost care. To celebrate biscuit makers’ efforts, Hardee’s hosts an annual biscuit-making competition, with the chance to win $10,000 and the title of Biscuit Baker Challenge Champion.
The chain continues to innovate on the classic, introducing seasonal and limited time specials — for example, heart-shaped ones for Valentine’s Day and the epic Primal Biscuit in partnership with Jurassic World Dominion this past Summer, a warm biscuit filled with a fried egg; sliced, slow-cooked prime rib; smoked cheddar; and tangy barbecue sauce. They follow trends, too, so don’t be surprised to see them accented by the likes of hot honey or some of your other favorite foodie trends.
A first for the quick-service restaurant industry, Hardee’s also worked with Nashville-based Southern Grist Brewing Co. earlier this year to turn its biscuits into a golden liquid form with a Strawberry Biscuit Ale. Infused with 200 pounds of biscuits and hints of strawberry jam and buttermilk, it was a chance for the Hardee’s staple to be enjoyed in unique fashion all day — and night. The Strawberry Biscuit Ale was so popular, in fact, that two batches sold out and it remained the brewery’s most popular launch since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mind you, the innovations didn’t — and won’t — stop there. Now through February 7, 2023, you can score two not-to-be-missed creations on the Hardee’s menu: The chock-full Super Sausage Biscuit, featuring two sausage patties, two slices of American cheese and a fried egg and the Super Bacon Biscuit, jammed with two layers of bacon slices, two slices of American cheese and a fried egg. Get yours before they’re gone and start the day off right!
